Brandy

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• Genre: Contemporary R&B
• Hometown: McComb
• Brandy Website

About

A former teen sensation who had several Top 40 hits and a popular TV show (UPN's Moesha, featuring Brandy in the title role) before most kids graduate high school, Brandy matured into a full-fledged R&B diva. Born Brandy Norwood and raised in California, the singer released two successful albums on Atlantic and enjoyed chart-toppers like "Sittin' Up in My Room" (from the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack), then hit a bit of a rough patch. She married and then divorced producer Robert "Big Bert" Smith, who later claimed their marriage was faked to preserve Brandy's reputation when she got pregnant with daughter Sy'rai (whose birth was chronicled on a 2002 MTV reality miniseries). Her third album, Full Moon, was a critical failure, while 2004's Afrodisiac, didn't fare well commercially, prompting the singer to break with Atlantic. Finally, in 2006, she failed to brake when traffic slowed on the freeway, causing an accident that resulted in the death of the driver in the car in front of her. By 2008, Brandy was still awaiting the outcome of several lawsuits filed in response to the accident, but things were looking up, beginning with the release her fifth album, Human, on Epic.

- Rachel Devitt